PROJECT:

In 2020, I was tasked with creating a complete support content set for Robinhood in preparation for the launch of IPO access. To complete this project, I worked closely with internal product teams, legal, compliance, and outside SEO contractors.

IPO access was a new program and the first of its kind available to retail investors in the US, so not only did the support content need to guide customers through the process of signing up and buying shares, it also needed to educate the customer on IPOs, how they work, and why buying shares at IPO price might be advantageous.

ACTION:

I started the project by meeting with the product team and reviewing all the designs and user flows. While navigating the flows myself, I found and flagged several areas where I felt confused or where a customer who didn't understand IPOs would be confused. I worked with the product and design team to address those concerns and started outlining my approach.

Based on customer interviews from our UX research team, I knew our customer base would need additional information about IPOs and the IPO process before they could make an informed decision to invest in those companies. I decided the best approach would be to write 4 articles:

1. About IPO access - Contains answers about the IPO access program and IPOs in general

2. How to sign up for IPO access -Mostly lists restrictions about the program

3. How to request IPO shares - Step-by-step instructions on how to use the program in the app

4. Why didn't I get the requested IPO shares - Answers to the most anticipated questions our customer support team would receive about the program

About IPO access

This page is in an FAQ style and functioned as a resource support agents could link customers too as well as an important SEO tool. The direct question and short answer format helped us secure several position zero SERP features like "featured snippets" and "answer boxes." This page was also the main education tool we used to help customers understand what an IPO is, what IPO shares/pricing is, and what the process is like. 

How to sign up for IPO access

This page has gone through a few iterations. Initially, it was built just to capture the search volume we were expecting to receive. The program was only available by invitation at launch, so the page indicated that then displayed some of the restrictions or reasons why a customer might not have access. When the project opened up to the public without invites, I changed the page to have a small section at the top explaining they just needed to navigate to the IPO access tab in the app and follow the on-screen prompts. Finally, I left the page up for SEO purposes and used it as a hub to link to the other related articles.

How to request IPO shares

This page has simple, clear self-service instructions on what a customer must do to use the new program. I outlined the steps as simply as possible and worked heavily with legal to provide other relevant legally-required information.

Why didn't I get the requested IPO shares

This page addressed what I anticipated would be the biggest questions customers had if their experience didn't go as planned. I explained that requesting shares does not necessarily mean you are purchasing the shares and gave an outline of all the possible reasons why that could happen.

RESULTS:

I was able to "pilot" the support resources with a group of invite-only customers before our broad release. The customers showed greater understanding of IPOs and what the program was after reading "About IPO access." Millions of users participated in the program and customer support queues were full on the day of the first IPO share distribution. The main question they were receiving was about flipping shares (selling the shares almost immediately after the company went public). I worked with legal and compliance to spell out an anti-flipping policy and the support contacts related to IPO access dropped by nearly 40%.

Several full page screenshots from the redesign can be seen below.